SINGAPORE — Mr Andy Chua made tongues wag when he put in a winning bid of US$2.17 million (S$2.71 million) to dine with billionaire Warren Buffett. Little was revealed about the man by Glide Foundation except that he was a businessman from Singapore, but Channel NewsAsia understands he is the chairman of AMES United, which runs a chain of beauty and grooming centres across Asia.

AMES United started off as hair-loss treatment company Yun Nam Hair Care in 1984. It has since founded two other brands — London Weight Management and New York Skin Solutions.

The company has over 100 outlets across Singapore, Malaysia and Shanghai. It has 1,600 employees and almost 600 of them are based in Singapore, the website stated.

Mr Chua won the annual charity online auction last Saturday (June 7) to lunch with Mr Warren Buffett, the third-richest man in the world. According to Forbes’ world billionaires list, Mr Buffett’s net worth stands at more than US$65 billion.

Mr Chua’s bid is more than double the US$1 million put in by last year’s top bidder. The record bid of US$3,456,789 was set in 2012 by an anonymous bidder. Proceeds of the auction go to Glide Foundation, a San Francisco-based charity organisation which helps the marginalised and the poor. CHANNEL NEWSASIA